Can good Christian girls get partners through facebook?

Phiona Baraka, a 26-year-old member of Bible Community Church in Gulu, joined social media platforms (facebook and WhatsApp) because of peer pressure.
She says she never wanted to be left behind on all sorts of issues - fashion, politics and sports.
Since she had only a few friends she could actually chat with, she ended up accepting friend requests from strangers. These, she believed, would keep her busy when her real friends were not online.
With her new found friends, the devout Christian shared several messages, most personal. She also learnt how to voice and video call with people she had never met in real life.
This was normal, she says. Until one day she befriended a man in his early 30s on facebook.
“He first asked if I was married. When I told him I was not, he went straight to the point and asked if I could be his girlfriend. I was amazed how someone could date the person he did not know but by mere looking at profile photos,” Baraka says.
“Before I could reply, he asked for my nude pictures. I declined to send them and quickly blocked him”.
Baraka claims she did not know people use social media platforms for dating.
But Allen, a member of another church in Gulu knew exactly what she was looking for when she joined facebook during her Senior Six vacation.
This was immediately after her mother bought her a phone to help in communication whenever her mother wasn’t at home.
Allen says she accepted friend requests from strangers. One of her new ‘friends’ was a man who claimed he was a Uganda living in the Diaspora. They started exchanging photos and chatted late into the nights almost daily. He said he was looking for a beautiful girl to marry from Uganda.
“I was naive and desired to get a boyfriend from abroad. I put all my trust into this man. I was so excited that I kept on talking about this man to every friend of mine. I never wanted to take anybody’s advice concerning the man,” she says. They exchanged phone contacts. She was elated. She talked to some his friends and relatives. She knew she had met the man of her dreams.
“When he came to Uganda, I was already taken up to the extent that I stayed with him at his apartment for all the days he was in the country,” she adds.
The mysterious man returned to whichever country he had come from, promising to return for our traditional marriage (introduction) after a few months.
“I even told my mother to start mobilising for my introduction, but all these promises did not yield fruits. He did not just fail to come back but he blocked meand ended all communication”.

Devil’s vessels
These were some of the testimonies on the sidelines of the Noble Girls’ International Conference in Gulu at the weekend. The conference organised by the Revival Church Ministry, Gulu aimed to enlighten women from the age of 16 on how they should conduct themselves but above all, ‘never to find love’ via social media.
According to Pastor Esther Njeri Kato, the guest preacher, young girls can only seek for marriage partners ‘through trusting in God to give them the rightful partners.’
“Every woman has a husband created for her by God,” she said to loud applause. “This act of Christians also turning social media platforms into dating site is very wrong. I have heard of relationships where people met through social media and they end up breaking up because of mistrust. They believe their partners would use the same platform to cheat on them.”
She quoted ‘Isaiah 34:16’ - ‘Seek ye out of the book of the Lord, and read: no one of these shall fail, none shall want her mate: for my mouth it hath commanded, and his spirit it hath gathered them’ - before asking all the married women to remain faithful to their husbands and not to be taken up by men who approach them through any social media platforms.
“In case any man approaches you in such a disgraceful manner blast and unfriend them immediately because these are satanic moves to destroy marriages”.
Another pastor, Christine Mwaka, also urged ladies who are single and searching to always be vigilant of the devil’s tricks, asking them to always discuss their relationships with their church elders.
This, she said would help them avoid falling into the hand of predators.
“We are all aware that the devil is not resting. He will always use any means to destroy Christians. I know it is currently operating under the social media platform. I advise my fellow women to live exemplary lives in this world to get the rightful judgment before God when they leave their world,” Mwaka, the director of Noble Girls International said.

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His comment on Instagram lit their love flame

When Linda Rui posted a photograph of herself wearing an African print red dress on Instagram back in 2015, it attracted numerous likes and comments including compliments from followers. And one day as Simon Kato was perusing different Instagram accounts, he came across Rui’s where she had posted different pictures but commented on one about how she looked beautiful in African Fabric. “I found it amazing that this white girl was dressed beautifully in African fabric,” he says.
Rui responded to the comment saying, “thank you, Africa is like my second home, that is why I love African prints.” However, she says she would not have responded if he had comment ed with words such as “hey babe,” “sexy,” “shawty,” like most men used to do.
Soon the two started chatting frequently on Facebook and eventually became friends but discussing mostly fashion. They talked about a number of things ranging from style, trends and photography before finally exchanging contacts. “One time as we were having a conversation, I mentioned that my favourite ice cream flavour was coconut and suprisingly, she said it was her favourite too. I embarced that opportunity to ask her out for ice cream at Acacia Mall and she accepted,” Kato says. Since that ice cream date in November 2016, the couple did not look back and on August 6 they got engaged.
While the couple was having lunch during a holiday outing recently in Fort Portal in western Uganda, Kato said he had ordered a special meal for Rui. So, the waiter brought another plate with a cover to hide its contents. “Simon told me to open up the plate and in so doing, there was no food but rather a small pink towel with a beautiful shinny ring placed over it. I was shocked and stopped thinking for about a minute,” Rui says, adding, “As I was still figuring what was going on, Simon got down on one knee and asked me to be his wife. I got a little teary before saying yes.” The couple is now busy with marriage and family plans.
What they love about each other
Regarding why she zeroed down to the idea of settling down with Kato, Rui says he is a special kind of man.

THIS STORY WAS FIRST PUBLISHED ON AUGUST 10, 2017